The problem with traditional financial planning methods is they force the advisor to listen too closely to what the client’s stated needs and goals are. In order to generate proposals, advisors typically need to fix a number of unknown variables in order for their software to calculate. The most common approach is to either ask the client what he or she thinks the variables will be (such as inflation, market performance, interest rates, tax laws, life expectancy, health status, future income needs, desired future value of estate, etc.) or to tell the client, based on our understanding of historical data, what values would be reasonable. However, does what you or your advisor think what inflation will be have anything to do with what inflation actually will be? Does what you or your advisor think about any of these variables have any influence whatsoever on the reality that will unfold? Obviously the answer is, NO, of course not. Therefore, is there much probability that the answers that your advisor’s software generates based on these inputs will be anything remotely close to what you actually experience throughout your lifetime? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Then why ask these questions? My experience as a financial consultant is that we do what we are trained to do, and we are unaware of any better alternative. Upon completion of the plan, most honest advisors tell their clients something like the following, “The only thing we know for sure is that all of these numbers will be wrong. We will try our best to make adjustments each year in an annual review.”

THE SOLUTION IS PROCESS NOT PRODUCT - By assisting clients to implement a process that is the most flexible and least inhibited by the 10 wealth eroding factors, but also leaves clients with more use, liquidity, and control of their financial assets, only then can clients strive to maximize their real financial potential. This is possible when clients are educated about how money behaves in an inflationary capitalist economy and begins to leverage that knowledge to progress toward achieving maximization.